Consultant Community Paediatrician

Job overview

Come and be at the Heart of our Community.

Have you got exceptional clinical skills to support children and young people in West Hertfordshire?

HCT are advertising for a Consultant Community Paediatrician to be part of the Autism Assessment team.

The Community Paediatricians provide services to children and young people in Watford, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and the surrounding areas.

This is a 10 programme activity post with Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust. The post holder will be based at one of the three children’s centres in West Hertfordshire. All centres have excellent facilities and host several disciplines.

There is multiagency working within the department including assessment of autism. There are close working relationships with both Acute Paediatrics Services and CAMHS. There are strong links with Hertfordshire County Council, Social Services and Education Department.

*Proposed Interview date: 5th November 2026*

HCT will prioritise recruitment of workers living in England under the new immigration rules for care workers effective from 9 April 2025. Employers must first prove that they have attempted to recruit a worker from within England who needs new sponsorship. This ensures that those who came to the UK to pursue a career in adult social care can do so.

Main duties of the job

The responsibilities will include:

• Assessments of children with neurodevelopment conditions, autism, ADHD and neuro-disabilities.
• Safeguarding children, looked after children, school health
• Special educational needs, teaching and training.

This post holder will have shared lead for neuro-disability and where appropriate, participating in multi-agency / multidisciplinary assessments.

The Children’s Specialist Services Medical Team in West Hertfordshire consists of 18.5 Consultants and SAS Community Paediatricians, working across the three child development centres. They are supported by Specialist and Speciality grade doctors, and one resident doctor in rotation.

This new post in the Autism Assessment Team is an integral part of the Neurodiversity Pathway and links to the wider Community Paediatric Medical team. Other services in the Neurodiversity Pathway are the Sensory Processing Service and the Hertfordshire NHS CYP Neurodiversity Single Referral Service. The Community Medical Team works closely with therapy, community nursing and continuing care teams.

We welcome informal visits to our friendly team in Watford, St Albans & Hemel Hempstead.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will provide services to children with neurodevelopment conditions including development delay, autism, ADHD and neuro-disabilities within the wider child development team, and where appropriate, participating in multi-agency assessments. All referrals of children are discussed in the weekly ‘intake meeting’ to identify the appropriate clinics these children should be seen in. The new consultant is expected to be part of that team.

Where relevant, the post holder will provide expert advice to the GPs and other health care professionals on issues relating to neuro-disabilities, autism, and neurodevelopment. It is also expected that the consultant will attend any relevant meetings relating to development of services within the medical team.

The post holder is expected to be available to advise social services and the police on safeguarding matters for west Hertfordshire. The post holder is expected to advise and attend safeguarding strategy meetings, case conferences and reviews, particularly if directly involved in the care of the child being discussed including completion of section 17 reports on children seen.

Please see attached Job description for full details.

Whilst it is not a legal requirement, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust encourages and supports all staff to be vaccinated as this remains the best line of defense against COVID-19.

The post holder should hold a full, valid, UK driving license and have access to a car to use regularly for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

The use of AI is monitored and if you have used it then you are required to declare this, as well as what type of AI tools you have used and for what purpose. We reserve the right to further test your individual knowledge and skills in relation to the requirements for the post through robust and thorough interview and assessment.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.